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  • Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Word Origins one. The title of today's lesson

  • is idioms related to salt and you know, you find out here that salt actually

  • originally refers to money or refers to value. So that's what the origin comes

  • from. So let's take a look at the note. In the past before the Roman Empire

  • introduced silver or gold coins salt was the main currency. Roman soldiers were

  • paid in solarium or salt money. The origin of the word salary actually

  • derives from salt. It comes from salt. So salt was so valuable at that time

  • because of course that was one of the only ways to keep food fresh.

  • There were no refrigerators. There was no way to refrigerate food. So salt was the

  • main preservative. So if you wanted to keep food for a longer period of time

  • you needed salt. So salt was very valuable. So soldiers were actually paid

  • in salt. They were paid in bags of salt. That's how valuable salt was. So that's

  • why all of these idioms that we cover today. We cover four idioms. They all have

  • the word salt in them and this is why salt sometimes refer to either money or

  • value in some way. So let's take a look look at the first idiom we have here. To

  • take something with a grain of salt. All right. So what does this mean ? If you

  • take something with a grain of salt, you mean that he or she should not believe

  • it or put much value in it because it may not be true or accurate . Now remember

  • a grain of salt, one grain is one little tiny piece of salt. So if you just had

  • one little tiny piece of salt, even in the Roman Empire that was not worth much

  • money. So we mean that you shouldn't put value in what this person says. So

  • that's why we actually say the phrase to take something with a grain of salt.

  • Don't put much of value in what they say. Don't assume that it's accurate. Just

  • kind of take it very lightly. That's what we mean with this phrase to take

  • something with a grain of salt. So let's look at one example. We give for this

  • idiom. Don't pay much attention to what he told you. You should take everything

  • he says with a grain of salt. Don't put much value in it. Okay good.

  • Let's look at the second idiom. No person worth their salt would do something.

  • Again no person worth their value or money would do this particular thing. So

  • what does it mean ? No person especially of a particular profession. So you might

  • say no photographer or no teacher or whatever would do this particular thing

  • who deserves respect would take part in such an activity. All right. We do have

  • one example here. No journalist worth his or her salt would write such a

  • one-sided biased article. Yeah a professional journalist is supposed to

  • be fair. They're supposed to you know just report things the way, the way they

  • see it or the way they're supposed to look at both sides. They're supposed to

  • be kind of neutral. At least initially they're supposed to at least say what

  • both sides mean or what both sides present. They're not supposed to just

  • write all completely towards one side and completely knock or criticize the

  • other side. So that's what we would say no journalists worth his or her salt

  • would write this article. So if they do this it makes them look bad. It doesn't

  • make them look like really a professional or fair journalist. All

  • right. Let's look at number three. Salt of the earth. Okay what does that

  • mean ? Someone who is the salt of the earth is the most worthy of people,

  • especially someone who is good-hearted and dependable. In this way we say that

  • they are a person of high standing or high value especially in their behavior

  • and in their you know their belief in morals and integrity. Something like that.

  • we would we'd say somebody is the salt of the earth. So let's look at one

  • example we have here. Bob is the salt of the earth. You can count on him to judge

  • fairly. I don't know anyone who has a higher

  • sense of morals. Okay So again you put all , you put value in

  • this person . You think this person is worthy. So again this is where the idea

  • comes from. It all comes from the origin of salt in the Roman Empire being money.

  • All right. Let's look at number four. Oh this one can either be earn one's keep

  • or earn ones salt. All right so again salt almost being like money again. If someone

  • earns their keep or salt they deserve whatever they are paid. So you think

  • they're well worth the money of what they're paid because they did such a

  • good job. They did such a high-quality job. They're worth whatever you're paying

  • them. They are worth their salt. Again salt meaning money. Okay let's just give

  • one last example for this one. You won't find a harder worker. He is worth

  • his salt. So again this is where the origin of this comes from. It comes all the

  • way back from the Roman Empire using salt as a currency to mean like

  • money or value in something. Okay. Anyway, I hope you got it. I hope you enjoyed

  • it. I hope it was informative. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.

Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Word Origins one. The title of today's lesson

字幕與單字

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A2 初級 美國腔

英語家教Nick P 詞源(1) 與Salt相關的成語(1) (English Tutor Nick P Word Origins (1) Idioms Related to Salt)

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    anitawu12 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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